Browns fire Eric Mangini

Yesterday's loss for the Cleveland Browns to the Pittsburgh Steelers was so awful that words cant describe it.
I went to bed with two minutes to in the first half and that is something that I have never done since starting this blog,but I just couldn't reconcile getting short rest to watch the end of something that terrible.
In that vein,there will be no coverage here of the defeat,just some thoughts on the axing of Eric Mangini.
The best news of yesterday for Cleveland fans?
Wins by San Francisco,Dallas,Detroit and Houston allowed the Browns to jump over all four of those teams in the draft order.
Had all of those teams finished 5-11 instead of 6-10,the Browns would have picked behind all of them as the Browns tougher schedule than all of those teams would relegated Cleveland to the 10th spot.
Instead,Cleveland moves to sixth overall.
Let the calling for A.J Green-Georgia wide receiver begin.
It might take some luck for Green to fall to sixth,but it is possible,
Here is hoping this works out better than last years finger crossing for Eric Berry!

Eric Mangini's fate as the coach in Cleveland was sealed by three decisions that made a third season an insurmountable climb.
The first was his terrible draft with the only draft that he controlled in 2009.
When Mangini defenders want to rail about the "lack of talent",ask them about the 2009 draft that produced three starters,but two of the three (Brian Robiskie and Mohammed Massquoi) would start for no other team besides Cleveland.
The decisions to trade down multiple times in the first round in that draft to accumulate extra picks that turned out to be the David Veikunes of the world was a main contributor to the lack of talent.

The second decision was the hiring of Mike Holmgren to run the team from an executive position.
It was clear from day one that Holmgren and Mangini's ideas of football were ones that were incompatible and no matter how hard either tried to spin it,this was doomed to failure.
This was Mangini's fault only in that the 2009 Browns were so terrible for the first three quarters of the season that the usually distant Randy Lerner felt he had to do something to toss a bone to a frothing fan base at the time.

The final and the one call that made this inevitable was the decision by Eric Mangini to keep Brian Daboll as the offensive coordinator despite the calls by most everyone to replace him after the 2009 season.
Had Mangini went with a suggestion of Holmgren's and removed the dull blunderings of Daboll before this season,it is possible that maybe one or two of the close losses go the Browns way.
7-9 against a difficult schedule and working more with a Mike Holmgren friendly style of play might have meant a 2011 return for Eric Mangini.
I admire Mangini's loyalty to his friend,but from a business/career standpoint,this meant the clock was ticking unless the Browns played over their head and got some breaks.

I do give Eric Mangini some credit.
Under his leadership,the Browns focused on high character players that didn't get into trouble and when they did (Braylon Edwards),he moved them along.
One could say that he took this too much into consideration,but despite the losing the Browns didn't have the players into trouble like their AFC North rivals such as Pittsburgh (Ben Rothlisberger),Baltimore (Murderin' Ray Lewis) or Cincinnati (the dog and pony show that featured every headcase known to man).
Cleveland at least didn't have much of that going on.

In the end,Cleveland had little choice and the end of the season losses meant even Mangini could not claim true improvement.
The marriage was doomed from the start,better to end it now and move towards a brighter future for both parties.

I have plenty more to hammer out over the next two days.
A post on the top candidates for the Browns head coaching job,a look at the Devils weekend and Maryland football losing their one chance to shoot for the moon...

Photo Credit-John Kuntz-Cleveland Plain Dealer

Reviewing the tape-Pounding the Pats!!

The Cleveland Browns clicked up a win that I believe might have been the biggest and most impressive since their return to the NFL in 1999 last Sunday with a steamrolling of the New England Patriots 34-14.

Brownie Bits

1) Impressive? That wasn't the word for it.
The Cleveland Browns bullied and plundered the 6-1 New England Patriots and did what they pleased.
For whatever one thinks of Eric Mangini and Brian Daboll, on this day, one cannot complain.
Win against the Jets this Sunday, and even more will move into their corner.
That (to my surprise) seems very possible as the Jets aren't exactly an offensive juggernaut.

2) This was total domination in all three facets of the game as the offense used daring and muscle to physically beat up the Pats defense, the defense confused Tom Brady with a dazzling variety of fronts, blitzes, and coverages, and the special teams were strong as well, using a pop-up kickoff to gain possession.

3) Peyton Hillis ran for 184 yards, and what I love most is the willingness to run between the tackles and run over people.
That usually doesn't make for career longevity, but it does make you a memorable fan favorite...

4) Colt McCoy ran for a touchdown and gave even more hope that he could be the eventual quarterback.
McCoy made plays when needed, yet didn't force things and make the type of error that can change a game.
Against the Saints, the Browns won despite McCoy; on this day, the Longhorn was a contributing factor in the win...

5) What a crazy call by Brian Daboll with the Josh Cribbs handoff to Chansi Stuckey for a rushing touchdown that crushed the stunned New England defenders.
That play was the pivotal one of the game to me...

6) McCoy's toss to Evan Moore downfield that Moore hauled in with a great catch was a step forward in setting the tone of the game early as well.
The Moore catch set up Peyton Hillis and his first TD run.
Why Moore isn't a larger part of the offense with receivers this weak still baffles me.

7) Ahtuba Rubin had the only sack of Tom Brady, but the barrage of Browns kept Brady off balance all day, and Rob Ryan gets plenty of credit for that.
I think the Browns can do the same to Mark Sanchez, but the wild card is REX Ryan.
Can he anticipate his brother's thinking for this week's game?

8) I am often critical of Abram Elam,but Elam played well in the game.
Often times Elam is a less-than-strong tackler, which is the opposite of the reputation that he brought to town, but Elam was very solid in this one.

9) Tons of credit to the beef up front as Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach were knocking Patriots off the ball on every run.
Both had their struggles at times this season, but both were huge last Sunday.

10) How much did Bill Belichick have to hate the post-game handshake in this one?
Shaking the hand of the man he despises most in Mangini in the one city in the country that doubts his genius had to be difficult for him....

11) I realize that this is crazy, but keep this in mind-IF (and a huge if it is) the Browns could get by the Jets this week, Cleveland would be 4-5.
The Browns then have the easiest run on their schedule all season- 4-4 Jacksonville,1-7 Carolina,4-4 Miami,0-8 Buffalo, and 2-6 Cincinnati, a 4-1 run through that would put the Browns at 8-6 with the Ravens and Steelers coming to Cleveland.
I still think that is optimistic, but conceivable.
Only with a win over the Jets, though,3-6 might be too big a hole to dig out of ....
A guy can dream, can't he?

Photo Credits
Handshake_John Kuntz-Cleveland Plain Dealer

Hillis-Joshua Gunter-Cleveland Plain Dealer

It's Mangini

The Cleveland Browns officially ended perhaps the worst kept secret in the team's long history today by hiring former New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini to direct the fortunes of the Browns for the next four years.

First off, I don't have a problem with hiring Mangini as many do.
Yes,he had a losing overall record in New York (23-25),but that was mainly due to the dreaded sophomore flu,which occurs when a team leaps higher in record against a weaker schedule and pays for that against a tougher schedule the following season.
This flu hit Cleveland this year and New Orleans in 2007 ,while a version of the virus could be headed to Atlanta,Arizona,Baltimore and/or Miami next season.
So,I don't put much stock into that problem.

I also have little trouble not being angered by the Jets late season failings that saw the Jets lose to four of their five opponents (three of which finished with losing records).
Many point to this as reason enough to pass on Mangini.

But there are a few issues that make me not as happy about the hiring as I could be.
The biggest is his apparent obsession with hiring good friend George Kokinis as the general manager.
Since Randy Lerner apparently was obsessed with hiring a coach with previous experience,why would he not be just as interested in tabbing a GM with experience as well???
Well,it seems that Mangini and GM to be named getting along was a major issue to the Browns after it appears (after the fact) that Romeo Crennel and Phil Savage were far from on the same page.
The Browns have committed to an interview with the Eagles Tom Heckert and I would feel much better about all of this if Cleveland enters the off season with a Heckert/Mangini team instead of a Kokinis/Mangini duo.
It is unknown whether the Browns are truly interested in Heckert (scheduled to interview next week) or if it was just a media leak to take the increasingly negative media focus off Kokinis.but one can hope that the Browns are serious in hiring Heckert.
If Heckert turns out to be the choice,the Browns would finally have the type of experienced football man at the helm that both Pittsburgh and Baltimore have had for years and Heckert would step in without a learning curve,which is also a positive in the hiring of Mangini.

Editors Note:Heckert has withdrawn his name from consideration since he would have no say in the hiring of the head coach.
This development pretty much says that George Kokinis will be the GM....

I also wish that the Browns would have talked to more candidates.
I know they made the obligatory trip to Mecca to talk to Bill Cowher and talked to Mel Tucker to satisfy the Rooney Rule,but no interviews with coaches that I would have loved to at least seen given a chance.
Marty Schottenheimer is 65,but would have been very motivated to turn the ship and fast.
Many saw his age as a detriment,I saw it as an advantage-he didn't have time for a long time rebuilding term.
Dan Reeves brought three different teams to the playoffs and two to the Super Bowl and reportedly is looking for one last run.
I really like what Russ Grimm would have brought to the table as he would have been the perfect fit-tough,hard nosed football and would have had the added bonus of a grudge against the Steelers for the way they hosed him in favor of Mike Tomlin.
Jim Schwartz of Tennessee seems to be a star in the making for someone and has a Cleveland background,but the Browns canceled his interview after talking to Mangini.
None of those candidates even got an interview.

I don't have much of an opinion on the new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll,who is moving with Mangini from the Jets where he was the quarterbacks coach,but I do like the hiring of Rob Ryan from the Raiders as the defensive coordinator.
I have been a long time admirer of Buddy Ryan and the defenses that Rob had put together in Oakland were underrated when considering the constraints that Al Davis seems to place on the Raiders organization.
So,I will give Mangini a plus and a undecided on his first two hires.

All and all,I am open minded on this one and despite wishing that there had been more of an open process,I am on board.
However,be ready for next weeks screaming post on the hiring of George Kokinis.......

Bullpen Notes

The New Jersey Devils play their last home game for the next 13 days tonight against Atlanta.
Here is hoping that we get a better effort than has been given lately.

Our friends over at Bag of Health and Politics sends us this sad note on the shooting of former Hagerstown Sun Robby Tolan in his own driveway on New Years Eve.
Tolan was reportedly unarmed and best wishes for things working out well for the outfielder.....

The Attorney General of the state of Utah is launching an investigation into the BCS for Anti-Trust violations..
Now I think the BCS is as rotten as anyone,but can anyone tell me that in this time of multiple troubles in our nation that the top problem in the state of Utah is the Bowl Championship Series???

Tonight's National Championship Prediction-Oklahoma 41 Florida 31

The lovely Cherie sends us this list of verbal miscues by the soon to be former President over the years.
Funny stuff....

A final word to the Republican Party and their supporters.
Think back to about eight years ago to all the terms that were thrown at Al Gore for his appeal of the Florida fiasco such as Sore loser and the type and now look at the same people that are telling Norm Coleman of Minnesota to appeal,arbitrate,sue etc for his loss to Al Franken for the Minnesota Senate seat AFTER a full recount was finished (something that was never allowed in Florida).
Frankly,I think Coleman has the right to take any measures that he wants and have no problems with it.
I mean why run if you didn't want to win and take every possible legal measure to do so,so my problem isn't with Coleman,it is with the GOP members that called Gore and his campaign everything that they could think of for his attempts,but encourage Coleman to do the same thing.
Hypocrisy at its finest....

Photo Credits
Mangini:John Kuntz:Cleveland Plain Dealer
Coleman vs Franken:Terry Gydesen:MinnPost.com